REVIEW | A Christmas Carol, Nottingham Playhouse

Photo: Manuel Harlan

Nottingham Playhouse

★★★★★

A Christmas Carol is a captivating classic by Charles Dicken which has been re-told many times through stage and screen adaptations over the years. New stage productions arise and have the challenge of distinguishing a fresh and exciting way of interpreting this well-known story.  I have seen many over the years and there is no doubt that this new production adapted by Mark Gatiss and produced by Adam Penford results in a new lease of life for this classic that will engage its audiences. 

At the core of this production of the Charles Dickens classic is a flawless creative team who have gone to the finer details in order to deliver a top-class adaptation. Designer Paul Wills presents us with a set that is centred around filing cabinets towering over the forefront of the Nottingham stage. Although on the right of the stage I was slightly distracted by some scaffolding which kind of distracted me. There is a definitive strong collaboration for atmospheric satisfaction from Philip Gladwell (Lighting Designer), Nina Dunn (Video Designer), Ella Wahlström (Sound Designer) and John Bulleid (Illusion Designer) which ensures that this production emphasises the bleak lifestyle in Victorian London. I can really see how Dicken's story has translated itself well through this new production. Alongside the visual narratives is some integration of movement phrases. These coincided quite well in how the story develops over a period of time without disjointing itself from the overall purpose of it. The sound itself created such a chilling atmosphere that the goosebumps were definitely on my arms! 

This new and exciting adaptation from Mark Gatiss does a considerable job at retaining much of the original text from the book, therefore for me it managed to execute the transition on stage. Gatiss also manages to bring the story back to the roots of being a ghost story set at Christmas as opposed to a Christmas story  with ghosts and I really appreciated how this was done. Not only writing the adaptation but Mark Gatiss does a fantastic job at portraying Jacob Marley. Whilst he doesn't have a lot of time on stage, this presence is solid. He has crafted an interesting way of portraying his illusion as a ghost through this body movement that really grasps the audience's attention. 

Of course, this story is centred around Ebenezer Scrooge and Nicholas Farrell no doubt shines in this role as the miserly, unpleasant man who rejects all Christmas cheer and celebration. Farrell's performance is impeccable; his attention to detail in portraying the character as more naturalistic doesn't go unnoticed. Seeing how Farrell portrays Scrooge's journey over the course of one Christmas Eve really executes how his character shifts in his perception on life in this story. Having read this story every Christmas I can see the character bounce from the pages of that book onto the stage. He makes a role that is physically demanding in his stage presence look natural. 

Further afield to the cast. They manage to execute a heavy duty of playing a whole host of different characters over 30 scenes in such a small cast number. They use a range of different mediums to support them in bringing this story to life, that certainly shows the width at which theatre can reach these days! Through the integration and importance of singing, dancing, illusion, video and puppetry this cast exceed in bucketful's. You can see how this cast feel at ease at transitioning between these different characters and how each of them infuse the course of this classic story on the stage. Some of the stand out performances for me came from Zak Ford-Williams (Tiny Tim), Edward Harrison (Bob Cratchit) and Jo Eaton-Kent (Ghost of Christmas Past) who managed to capture the detail of each of the characters they undertook in this production. Their transitions between the varying characters was heavily reliant on the other elements of this show.  

This is a production of a classic that soars in every single department. Its a fantastic result of a classic story and how clever interjections of modern devices in theatre can take it to new heights! A really great adaptation that encompasses this story at its best.

A Christmas Carol is performing at the Nottingham Playhouse until 20 Nov before transferring to Alexandra Palace in London from 26 Nov 2021. Book your tickets here for Nottingham performances and here for London Performances.